Tracking Windows print jobs

Is there a way to track and audit Windows printing jobs so we can tell who printed what document and when?

Yes, if your workstations all print through server-hosted shared printers, you can turn on Windows auditing and track when something is printed by enabling the Audit object access events policy.

This is in the Windows Audit Policy settings, through either the Group Policy or the Local Security Policy setting in the Administrative Tools section in the Control Panel.

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Is there a way to track and audit Windows printing jobs so we can tell who printed what document and when?

Yes, if your workstations all print through server-hosted shared printers, you can turn on Windows auditing and track when something is printed by enabling the Audit object access events policy.

This is in the Windows Audit Policy settings, through either the Group Policy or the Local Security Policy setting in the Administrative Tools section in the Control Panel.

After setting the Audit Policy, right-click the printer name in the Printers folder, click the Properties/Security/Advanced/Auditing menu item and add an audit entry for tracking printer activity. Audit entries will be recorded to the Security log, viewable through the Event Viewer. The operating system security log will show who printed to the printer and when, but it does not track what document was printed.

For more detailed print auditing, you will need a third-party auditing package. Several Windows print-auditing software packages are available, ranging from software to commercial offerings.

There does not seem to be much in the way of open source print-auditing software for Windows. What package is right for you depends on whether you want to monitor activity from the server or listen to printer traffic on the network, and whether you are in a domain or workgroup environment.

Search the Web for "Windows print-auditing software" for a list of alternative software options.

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